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Jonathan Groff Finally Won His First Tony Award, And His Seriously Emotional Speech Will Probably Make You Cry
By Stephanie Soteriou,
9 days ago
On Sunday, esteemed musical theater star Jonathan Groff finally won his first Tony Award, and people everywhere were left feeling seriously emotional about it.
For context, Jonathan first found Broadway success all the way back in 2006, when he originated the role of Melchior Gabor in Spring Awakening , for which he earned his first Tony nomination.
He then found TV and movie success, with a recurring role in the Fox series Glee , and as the voice of both Kristoff and Sven in Disney’s Frozen franchise.
In 2015, Jonathan returned to Broadway to play King George III in the original production of Hamilton . He was critically acclaimed for his performance at the time, and would regularly earn standing ovations during the show.
He was nominated for his second Tony Award the following year, but lost out to his Hamilton costar Daveed Diggs .
Jamie Mccarthy / WireImage
In 2022, Jonathan starred alongside Daniel Radcliffe in an off-Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along , which moved to the Hudson Theatre on Broadway in September.
This marked the first time the show had been on Broadway since its 1981 original production, and it was a huge success as it broke the house record for sold-out audiences, and grossed more than $1.3 million.
And it appears that the Tony Awards Management Committee agrees with the hype, with Merrily We Roll Along dominating this year’s ceremony with seven nominations and an impressive four wins.
Bruce Glikas / Bruce Glikas / WireImage
The show won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical and Best Orchestrations, with Daniel Radcliffe winning the Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical award, and Jonathan taking home the Tony for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical.
Jamie Mccarthy / WireImage
And after previously admitting that he couldn’t stop crying when he first found out that he was nominated, Jonathan seemed totally overwhelmed as he took to the stage to deliver his emotional winner’s speech, which has won high praise online.
The star started by thanking his parents, saying to them: “Thank you for letting me dress up as Mary Poppins when I was 3, thank you for letting me act out scenes from I Love Lucy on my 10th birthday, thank you for always allowing my freak flag to fly without ever making me feel weird about it.”
“Even if they didn't always understand me, my family knew the lifesaving power of fanning the flame of a young person's passions without judgment,” Jonathan went on. “I walk through life with an open heart because you let me know that I could; thank you, I love you.”
After thanking his teachers in his home state of Pennsylvania, Jonathan added: “I moved to New York exactly 20 years ago this year, and I got a job waiting tables and became a volunteer for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS , and all I wanted was to be a part of this community.”
“Thank you to everyone involved in Spring Awakening , who not only made that dream come true, but also inspired me to come out of the closet when I was 23,” Jonathan shared. “I'm now 39, and musical theater is still saving my soul.”
Theo Wargo / Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
The star then audibly fought back tears as he name-checked the people he has worked alongside for Merrily , saying: “Maria Friedman, thank you for letting me be your Franklin Shepard in this production of Merrily and allowing me the chance to accept, respect, and express both the lightest and darkest parts of myself.”
“Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez, you are more than old friends; you are soulmates, and I'm looking forward to watching each other change for the rest of our lives,” Jonathan said. “Thank you to every member of the extraordinary cast for lifting this Merrily into the spiritual stratosphere. Thank you to everyone working inside the Hudson Theatre.”
“And finally, I just want to say, when I was a kid in Pennsylvania, I used to record the Tony Awards on a VHS tape and watch the performances over and over again,” Jonathan recalled. “And to actually be able to be a part of making theater in this city, and just this much to be able to watch the work of this incredible, incredible community has been the greatest gift and pleasure of my life, and I thank you. And thank you so much for this honor.”
And Jonathan’s moving words struck a chord with people at home, with one viral tweet reading: “I’m gonna need every future award winner to take notes from Jonathan Groff’s Tonys speech, because damnnnnnn.”
The tweet, from BuzzFeed’s Spencer Althouse, has racked up tens of thousands of likes and retweets, with one of the quote tweets reading : “this is so pure. and so earnest. and the way he thanks everyone - not just by saying 'thank you' - but actually thanks them for something specific they’ve given to him. THAT’S a speech.”
“Give him another award for this speech!!!” another user joked . One more added : “no because why did i start sobbing even more every time his voice broke like i genuinely can’t watch this without crying i love seeing good people getting celebrated and recognised.”
“i love this man so much and i'm giving his family a standing ovation for how they nurtured his wonderful and kind creative spirit,” somebody else tweeted .
While another person concluded : “i just woke up and now I'm crying oh he deserves this so much it's been 17 years since that first nomination and i couldn't be happier for him.”
And one more summarized : “for those who don’t watch musical theatre jonathan groff winning the tony is like dicaprio winning the oscar.”
Looking for more LGBTQ+ or Pride content? Then check out all of BuzzFeed's posts celebrating Pride 2024 .
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